Novel bioemulsifier produced by a Paenibacillus strain isolated from crude oil

BACKGROUND: Surface active compounds produced by microorganisms are attracting a pronounced interest due to their potential advantages over their synthetic counterparts, and to the fact that they could replace some of the synthetics in many environmental and industrial applications. RESULTS: Bioemulsifier production by a Paenibacillus sp. strain isolated from crude oil was studied. The bioemulsifier was produced using sucrose with and without adding hydrocarbons (paraffin or crude oil) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions at 40degreesC. It formed stable emulsions with several hydrocarbons and its emulsifying ability was not affected by exposure to high salinities (up to 300g/l), high temperatures (100degreesC-121degreesC) or a wide range of pH values (2-13). In addition, it presented low toxicity and high biodegradability when compared with chemical surfactants. A preliminary chemical characterization by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 13C CP-MAS NMR) and size exclusion chromatography indicated that the bioemulsifier is a low molecular weight oligosaccharide-lipid complex. CONCLUSION: The production of a low molecular weight bioemulsifier by a novel Paenibacillus strain isolated from crude oil was reported. To the best of our knowledge, bioemulsifier production by Paenibacillus strains has not been previously reported. The features of this novel bioemulsifier make it an interesting biotechnological product for many environmental and industrial applications.This work was supported by PARTEX OIL AND GAS. The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013. Jorge F. B. Pereira acknowledges the financial support from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia through doctoral research grant SFRH/BD/60228/2009

Design of bio-based supramolecular structures through self-assembly of α-lactalbumin and lysozyme

Bovine α-lactalbumin (α-La) and lysozyme (Lys), two globular proteins with highly homologous tertiary structures and opposite isoelectric points, were used to produce bio-based supramolecular structures under various pH values (3, 7 and 11), temperatures (25, 50 and 75 °C) and times (15, 25 and 35 min) of heating. Isothermal titration calorimetry experiments showed protein interactions and demonstrated that structures were obtained from the mixture of α-La/Lys in molar ratio of 0.546. Structures were characterized in terms of morphology by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), conformational structure by circular dichroism and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy and stability by DLS. Results have shown that protein conformational structure and intermolecular interactions are controlled by the physicochemical conditions applied. The increase of heating temperature led to a significant decrease in size and polydispersity (PDI) of α-La–Lys supramolecular structures, while the increase of heating time, particularly at temperatures above 50 °C, promoted a significant increase in size and PDI. At pH 7 supramolecular structures were obtained at microscale – confirmed by optical microscopy – displaying also a high PDI (i.e. > 0.4). The minimum size and PDI (61 ± 2.3 nm and 0.14 ± 0.03, respectively) were produced at pH 11 for a heating treatment of 75 °C for 15 min, thus suggesting that these conditions could be considered as critical for supramolecular structure formation. Its size and morphology were confirmed by TEM showing a well-defined spherical form. Structures at these conditions showed to be stable at least for 30 or 90 days, when stored at 25 or 4 °C, respectively. Hence, α-La–Lys supramolecular structures showed properties that indicate that they are a promising delivery system for food and pharmaceutical applications.CNPq and CAPES, and their support to FAPEMIG and CNPEM-LNBio (Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais-Laboratório Nacional de Biociências) both from Brazil. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), and the project “BioInd - Biotechnology and Bioengineering for improved Industrial and Agro-Food processes”, REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000028 Co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER

Frequência Alfa na meditação Gurdjieff

Introdução: A meditação é uma prática que visa regular o estado mental e as emoções, podendo induzir a estados alterados de consciência. Dentre inúmeras técnicas de meditação, o trabalho proposto por George I. Gurdjieff, inclui práticas voltadas para o recolhimento da atenção e o equilíbrio entre a atividade do corpo, da mente e do sentimento. Estudos realizados com eletroencefalografia (EEG), avaliando o estado meditativo em geral, demonstraram um padrão cerebral caracterizado pelo aumento da amplitude dos ritmos eletroencefalográficos alfa e teta, bem como diferenças na atividade alfa entre a meditação e o relaxamento. Entretanto, isto não está caracterizado em meditadores da linha de G.I. Gurdjieff, que praticam, além de meditações sentadas, exercícios corporais acompanhados de uma música própria e exercícios de atenção durante a vida diária. Objetivo: Comparar a atividade cerebral da frequência alfa durante os estágios de meditação e relaxamento e avaliar as diferenças entre as regiões frontal, central e occipital nesses dois estados, em meditadores experientes do grupo Gurdjieff, de Salvador-Bahia-Brasil. Metodologia: A coleta da atividade cerebral dos 8 voluntários foi realizada através do EEG. O protocolo de coleta adotado foi de 6 minutos de relaxamento e 12 minutos de meditação. Resultados: Foi encontrado aumento significativo da potência alfa durante a meditação, quando comparada ao relaxamento. As regiões frontal e central não apresentaram diferenças entre si para a potência alfa, enquanto a região occipital apresentou aumento da potência alfa em comparação com as regiões frontal e central. Existe um aumento da densidade de alfa durante a meditação em todas as regiões cerebrais testadas, com maior densidade na região occipital. Conclusão: A frequência alfa comporta-se de forma diferente durante a meditação, comparada ao relaxamento, com um aumento da densidade de potência durante o estado meditativo em todas as regiões avaliadas, sendo a região occipital a que apresentou maior potência

Semliki Forest virus induced, immune mediated demyelination: the effect of irradiation

International audienceThe Dark Energy Camera has captured a large set of images as part of Science Verification (SV) for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The SV footprint covers a large portion of the outer Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), providing photometry 1.5 mag fainter than the main sequence turn-off of the oldest LMC stellar population. We derive geometrical and structural parameters for various stellar populations in the LMC disc. For the distribution of all LMC stars, we find an inclination of i = -38.14° ± 0.08° (near side in the north) and a position angle for the line of nodes of θ0 = 129.51° ± 0.17°. We find that stars younger than ∼4 Gyr are more centrally concentrated than older stars. Fitting a projected exponential disc shows that the scale radius of the old populations is R>4 Gyr = 1.41 ± 0.01 kpc, while the younger population has R = 0.72 ± 0.01 kpc. However, the spatial distribution of the younger population deviates significantly from the projected exponential disc model. The distribution of old stars suggests a large truncation radius of Rt = 13.5 ± 0.8 kpc. If this truncation is dominated by the tidal field of the Galaxy, we find that the LMC is {∼eq } 24^{+9}_{-6} times less massive than the encircled Galactic mass. By measuring the Red Clump peak magnitude and comparing with the best-fitting LMC disc model, we find that the LMC disc is warped and thicker in the outer regions north of the LMC centre. Our findings may either be interpreted as a warped and flared disc in the LMC outskirts, or as evidence of a spheroidal halo component

Surfactantless Emulsions Containing Eugenol for Imidacloprid Solubilization: Physicochemical Characterization and Toxicity against Insecticide-Resistant Cimex lectularius

Synthetic insecticides have been used for a long time as one of the most effective tools for insect pest control. However, the re-emergence of insect pests and their fast development of resistance, as has occurred for pyrethroid-resistant bed bugs Cimex lectularius L., make it necessary to develop new and safe strategies for effective pest control. This has fostered the research on new eco-sustainable formulations based on essential oils, which allows reducing the impact associated with the intensive use of synthetic insecticides on the environment and their effects on human health. This research explores the stability of water/eugenol/ethanol surfactantless emulsions loaded with imidacloprid (0.003 wt%), and their toxicity against a resistant bed bug strain. The results have shown that these emulsions enable the solubilization of a poorly water-soluble drug, such as the imidacloprid, without any significant modification of their stability. Furthermore, the application of the obtained formulations against the pyrethroid-resistant bed bug results in mortality in the 50–85% range upon topical and spray applications, with the increase of the eugenol content enhancing the effectiveness of the formulations. It may be expected that the ternary water/eugenol/ethanol mixtures could be further developed in the preparation of ready to use formulations, enabling the dispersion of insecticides for pest control

Platinum–Vanadium Oxide Nanotube Hybrids

The present contribution reports on the features of platinum-based systems supported on vanadium oxide nanotubes. The synthesis of nanotubes was carried out using a commercial vanadium pentoxide via hydrothermal route. The nanostructured hybrid materials were prepared by wet impregnation using two different platinum precursors. The formation of platinum nanoparticles was evaluated by applying distinct reduction procedures. All nanostructured samples were essentially analysed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. After reduction, transmission electron microscopy also made it possible to estimate particle size distribution and mean diameter calculations. It could be seen that all reduction procedures did not affect the nanostructure of the supports and that the formation of metallic nanoparticles is quite efficient with an indistinct distribution along the nanotubes. Nevertheless, the reduction procedure determined the diameter, dispersion and shape of the metallic particles. It could be concluded that the use of H2PtCl6 is more suitable and that the use of hydrogen as reducing agent leads to a nanomaterial with unagglomerated round-shaped metallic particles with mean size of 6–7 nm

Different approaches for dealing with rare variants in family-based genetic studies: application of a Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 problem

Rare variants are becoming the new candidates in the search for genetic variants that predispose individuals to a phenotype of interest. Their low prevalence in a population requires the development of dedicated detection and analytical methods. A family-based approach could greatly enhance their detection and interpretation because rare variants are nearly family specific. In this report, we test several distinct approaches for analyzing the information provided by rare and common variants and how they can be effectively used to pinpoint putative candidate genes for follow-up studies. The analyses were performed on the mini-exome data set provided by Genetic Analysis Workshop 17. Eight approaches were tested, four using the trait’s heritability estimates and four using QTDT models. These methods had their sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values compared in light of the simulation parameters. Our results highlight important limitations of current methods to deal with rare and common variants, all methods presented a reduced specificity and, consequently, prone to false positive associations. Methods analyzing common variants information showed an enhanced sensibility when compared to rare variants methods. Furthermore, our limited knowledge of the use of biological databases for gene annotations, possibly for use as covariates in regression models, imposes a barrier to further research

Rarity of monodominance in hyperdiverse Amazonian forests.

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). Utilizing a simple defining metric of at least half of the trees ≥ 10 cm diameter belonging to one species, we found only a few occurrences of monodominance in Amazonia, and the phenomenon was not significantly linked to previously hypothesized life history traits such wood density, seed mass, ectomycorrhizal associations, or Rhizobium nodulation. In our analysis, coppicing (the formation of sprouts at the base of the tree or on roots) was the only trait significantly linked to monodominance. While at specific locales coppicing or ectomycorrhizal associations may confer a considerable advantage to a tree species and lead to its monodominance, very few species have these traits. Mining of the ATDN dataset suggests that monodominance is quite rare in Amazonia, and may be linked primarily to edaphic factors